Civil unions may not offer solution for some same-sex couples

June 1, 2011

Produced by Eight Forty-Eight

Gabriel Fontes de Faria and Grant Gochnauer are a same-sex bi-national couple living in Chicago.

As of June 1, couples around Illinois can enter civil unions. The news is particularly good for many in the gay and lesbian community, who don’t have the right to marry, but not everyone is celebrating.

DOMA, or The Defense of Marriage Act, defines marriage as between a man and a woman. So unlike their straight counterparts, same-sex bi-national couples can’t sponsor each other for citizenship. One local couple shared what that meant for them.